Moraes authorizes transfers of Domingos Brazão and Rivaldo Barbosa to prison in RJ

Federal Supreme Court (STF) minister Alexandre de Moraes authorized the transfer of Domingos Brazão and Rivaldo Barbosa to the Gericinó Penitentiary Complex, in Rio de Janeiro. They were convicted in February of the murder of councilor Marielle Franco. The decision was taken on Friday, the 13th, and entered the STF system this Saturday, the 14th.

Currently, both are serving their sentences in federal prisons. Brazão is detained in Porto Velho (RO) and Barbosa in Mossoró (RN).

They were preventively arrested in 2024 and sent to the federal penitentiary system, with stricter rules, so as not to interfere with the investigations. After the trial last month, the defenses argued that this risk no longer exists, a justification accepted by Moraes.

“In the absence of the exceptional elements that previously recommended the rigor of the Federal Penitentiary System, the maintenance of this measure is no longer justified, as there is no longer a concrete demonstration of a current risk to public safety or the integrity of criminal execution that would require removal from the ordinary prison system”, wrote the magistrate when ordering the transfer of the two convicts to Gericinó. Moraes gave 24 hours for the order to be fulfilled.

Counselor of the Court of Auditors of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TCE-RJ), Domingos Brazão was considered one of the masterminds behind Marielle’s murder, alongside his brother, Chiquinho Brazão. They were sentenced to 76 years and 3 months, in addition to 200 fine days (two minimum wages each fine day), for the crimes of armed criminal organization, double qualified homicide and attempted qualified murder. Domingos lost his position at the TCE and Chiquinho lost his mandate as federal deputy in the Chamber of Deputies.

Rivaldo Barbosa lost his position as delegate of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro and received a sentence of 18 years in prison plus 360 fine days (1 minimum wage each fine day). Former head of the Civil Police, he worked to obstruct the police investigation, being convicted of the crimes of passive corruption and obstruction of justice.

At the trial, Moraes, who was the rapporteur of the case, stated that the evidence collected by the Federal Police (PF) against Chiquinho and Domingos was “coherent” and “harmonized” and demonstrated the “motivation” for the crime, as well as the “method of payment” for the murder carried out by former military police officer Ronnie Lessa.

For the minister, the logic of the criminal organization was clear. “We are going to remove this obstacle in the City Council and expand the area (in which the militia operates) and part of this area will be paid for” to Lessa. “If we analyze it together, the motivation and the method of payment are completely interconnected”, he assessed.

Lessa’s statements – widely criticized by the defendants’ defense – were decisive in moving the investigations from the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice (TJRJ) to the STF. The person who fired the shots accused Chiquinho Brazão, who at the time had jurisdiction as a federal deputy, which forced the case to be judged by the Supreme Court.

The investigation continued for six years under the jurisdiction of the Rio Courts without clarification. Shortly after the case was assigned to the STF, the PF concluded the investigations and stated in its report that the motivation for the crime was linked to land grabbing in the West Zone of the capital of Rio de Janeiro.